Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

Hi,

This is my first visit here so I hope my post is ok, my wife and I are trying to cook from scratch using Jamie's book Ministry Of Food, we have survived so far using the food you can buy partially prepaired/cooked from supermarkets and with Bolognese usually just buy a jar of the pre-made variety and mix it in with the mince.

Well we tried the receipe for it in the book and followed it strictly but we ended up with alot of excess liquid (I mean alot, it was more like a soup than a sauce).

Has anyone got any idea's what we did wrong or how to avoid this next time.

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

If that happens again, place the bolognese in a colander set over a bowl and let the sauce run through.

Place the sauce in a pan (one that will not burn easily) and place on full heat to reduce. When it is a more preferable consistency, reduce the heat to medium-low, mix in the rest of the bolognese and gently reheat while you cook your pasta.

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

The same thing happened to me, the mince etc was swimming. I think it would work better if the water was ommitted altogether. My family were very disappointed with their dinner tonight and suggested that I gave the book away!

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

Sod that!

If you want an easy bolognese, just finely your dice onions (1 large or 2 medium), garlic (3 cloves), carrots (2 medium) and celery (2) and sweat until soft and shiny. Brown the meat in beef dripping in a separate pan and add to the veg. Cooking on a low heat, add your tomatoes and no water. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally. When ready to serve, stir in chopped basil and season to taste with salt (ideally smoked sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper).

This will make a dry ragu, which is more traditional. If you prefer a wetter bolognese, then add 250ml cold water to the veg, when they have sweated, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Strain off the liquid and continue as normal, adding the liquid back to the bolognese about 5 minutes before finishing.

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

I do pretty much the same as above, but like to add some tomato concentrate whilst simmering.Also, instead of adding the cold water to the ragu, I would add some of the the water that the pasta is cooking in. Maybe it's something to do with the starchy quality, but it gives a much better finish.Last tip. Keep the rind from the parmesan, and add to the the cooking ragu.

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

I suggested adding water to the soffrito to make a quick veg stock.

I sometimes add parmesan rind to the pasta water, letting it melt in for a few minutes before remaining and adding the pasta.

What you want for pasta water is a copious amount of salt (10g per litre), some protein, and, if you like, some oil (some people use it, some don't. If you've time to watch the pan, leave it out. If you're doing 10 things at once, whack a bit in).

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

That's very similar to a recipie from a chef we once had. He would cook it to the stage of just before the toms, and then store it.Have to say, maybe it's the influence of the MOL, but now have really set ways of cooking pasta, sauces etc...maybe should loosen up a little and try a different way.

Re: Page 165 Bolognese Sauce

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